


Tired Eyes, Caffeinated Kisses

by Spicylemons



Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Rated teen for swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:01:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26581822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spicylemons/pseuds/Spicylemons
Summary: “Huh? Oh, yeah yeah. I’m sorry it's just...you smell like coffee”There’s an awkward pause in the air, Mark looking at Lucas with a blank stare.“Lucas I work in a fucking coffee shop-”In which Lucas’ quest for a good coffee shop turns into something much more with the cute barista during his 3AM caffeine runs .
Relationships: Mark Lee/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Comments: 7
Kudos: 124





	Tired Eyes, Caffeinated Kisses

**Author's Note:**

> Been way too long since I had to rack my brain like this, but here it is, a cute-ish Lumark fic for the culture.  
> In honor of ncity twt, perpetually on fire (But even more bc of the nct2020 stuff)  
> Special thanks to Shrey for bearing w me and my zero understanding of grammar, ily <3

☾

The air is crisp, with a light breeze blowing, wafting the smells of roasted coffee beans and orchids from the cafes down the street. Lucas smiles as he jogs slightly towards the quaint coffee shop he was eager to try out, armed with nothing but 10 dollars and Donghyuck’s recommendation of the caramel macchiato with the blueberry muffins. He pushes the door slowly, wincing as the loud overhead bell rings. 

It's 3 AM after all, and he's pretty sure he's woken up whichever poor employee was working the overnight shift and is surprised to hear a slightly deep voice greet him,

“Hey! What can I get you today? “

He looks at the employee like he's a deer caught in headlights, and the employee returns his look with a clueless, yet confused one of his own.

“Everything alright there, bud? “

“Oh uh, yeah just a caramel macchiato for here, please.”

Lucas wants to hit his head against a wall right then and there, of course he had to act like an idiot in front of the cute barista who, a) if the coffee was as heavenly as Donghyuck claimed, and b) it was cute barista boy's regular shift, would be seeing Lucas practically every day. 

Cute barista boy (which Lucas makes a mental note to check his nametag again) nods and smiles, swiftly turning around and in a flash, brings Lucas his order. 

Lucas jumps slightly at his speed, often used to waiting a copious amount of time for his order to arrive (he once fell asleep waiting for a newbie to make it, but that’s a memory he likes to keep tucked deep, deep down in his memory along with his middle school Belieber phase).

He thanks him and settles down on one of the counter seats, scared of accidentally falling asleep on the plush chairs near the windows. He takes a sip of the steaming liquid, and it takes about a minute for his brain to process that it isn't his usual order. 

“Oh” he says, realization dawning upon him

“You okay?” cute barista boy says as he wipes a cup. 

Right. He's in a coffee shop. Alone. With a cute boy. 

“Nothing!” he says, ears turning red, 

“It's just that my normal order is really complicated so it usually takes a long time to make but I don’t want to scare you because I’m new here and it's like, 3 in the morning and duckie recommended the caramel macchiato so I got that but I forgot I did so I was surprised and-” Lucas stops himself before his mouth can run even more. He inhales deeply, having accidentally rambled in one breath, and manages to turn even more red as Mark (he checks the name tag, finally) laughs, 

“Sorry,” he says, sheepishly. 

“it's cool, man. It's early as hell, nobody’s brain works at this time of the day.”

Lucas smiles, no, beams at Mark as he continues to sip his drink happily. 

The coffee is decadent, Lucas decides, as he exits the cafe and walks back to his dorms, where his 5 page paper on the human body awaits him.

☾

A week has passed and winter is beginning to set in the city. The roads are coated with a thin layer of snow, the muddy kind that is too icy and gross to look at. The morning is yet another early one. Lucas treads down the street carefully, his feet leading him to the familiar road to the cafe, his brain on autopilot as he runs on 2 hours of sleep. 

He smiles weakly at Mark who greets him, and droops onto the counter. Lazily taking out his notebook, he mumbles his usual order without much thought. By the time his mind clears up and he realizes what he's done, Mark’s already busy at work, machines whirring away, and Frank Ocean softly spilling out the speakers. 

He waits, anxious to see how badly Mark fucks up his order and like the nice guy he is, not say a word and still drink it.

Lost in thought about the previous times baristas have messed up his order, Lucas almost doesn't hear Mark. 

“One quad venti, ristretto, cinnamon, extra whip, four pump, no-foam vanilla latte with a caramel drizzle, right? “

_ What.The. Fuck.  _

“Uhh did I get it wrong? “ Mark scrunches his nose in an adorable manner, at which Lucas definitely does not coo internally. 

“Nope it was perfect, I’m surprised “

Mark laughs as he sees Lucas’ admiration

“It's my special talent”

_ Okay, Mark is God. _

“Hey mind if I join you, I'm getting off my shift now," Mark asks, tugging his apron off and waving at his coworker Jaemin who enters sleepily.

“Of course!”

They fall into easy conversation as Lucas finds out that Mark, like him, is a med student, who goes to SMU and also stays up late for the insanely early lectures they have to attend. He's mildly surprised he hasn't noticed him before, but everyone in the hall is sleeping with their 500 dollar textbooks as pillows, or halfway there, anyways.

_ Mark is definitely God.  _

“I mean, might as well earn a little cash while staying up, right? “ Mark says, lightly nudging Lucas who seems lost in thought. 

“Huh? Oh, yeah yeah. I’m sorry it's just...you smell like coffee” 

There’s an awkward pause in the air, Mark looking at Lucas with a blank stare.

“Lucas I work in a fucking coffee shop-”

☾

They end up sitting with each other during their shared lectures, Lucas claiming the company would help them concentrate (Via mitosis or something along those lines).

The professor finally dismisses class, and Lucas stands up with a groan, cracking his stiff joints. 

“God, that lecture lasted like, a week and a half. “

“Lucas it wasn't even 2 hours like his usual ones” Mark deadpans as he shoves his books into his bag. 

“You’ve got chem next, yeah?” 

“Yeah” Mark sighs, voice laced with fatigue

“Meet you at the cafe?” 

“Of course, genetic neurosis waits for no one” 

They laugh and Lucas is pretty sure he’s melting. If Mark’s adorable laugh with his scrunched up nose was on Spotify, Lucas would have it on repeat until it messed up his search algorithms and he heard it in his sleep.

It’s tradition for Lucas to spend his entire lunch break skyping Donghyuck as he shoves processed food into his mouth. It was times like these he missed his mom’s dumplings, but he smiles at the thought of coming back home and being welcomed with his mother’s open arms and food for days after his midterms.

“So you’re saying that this guy's hidden talent is to take super complicated orders from the youth at the crack of dawn. “ Donghyuck wrinkles his nose as some of his ramen drops onto his table. 

“Precisely, Duckie!! He's a med student who takes the earliest shift because he essentially doesn't sleep, always smells like coffee, and can make a killer soy latte while explaining brain embolisms. If he isn’t God, he’s got to be some celestial entity”

Donghyuck rolls his eyes, more concentrated on not spilling more of his ramen, 

“I know that eye roll too well, what are you judging me for this time?” a hint of amusement in Lucas’ voice.

“ I’ve been hearing you blabber about boys and girls like the in-denial bisexual disaster you are ever since you joined high school”

“Hey-”

“Guaranteed,” Donghyuck continues as Lucas stares pretending to be annoyed at the grainy screen before him, (Whatever prestige SMU liked to boast of wasn’t evident in their WiFi strength, but Lucas was too deep in debt and lab reports to care much.)

“Everyone welcomes a host of new hormones during puberty, you just happened to develop a newfound attraction to the same gender along with that ridiculous growth spurt of yours.” 

“Okay English major, your noodles are getting cold so let me continue” Lucas laughs, no hurt intended by his light tone

“Listen Xuxi, I'm really happy for you bu-”

“As I was saying, we're basically best bros now Duckie not _the_ best bros of course, that's your irreplaceable spot but, you know what I mean. He’s smart, funny and he has really nice lips.. “

“Xuxi…" Donghyuck groans, knowing what was going to happen next

“I wonder what it would be like to kiss him, does he taste like coffee too? In a no homo, for the sake of science, good bros kinda way, you know? Definitely not a romantic way. Nope”

“.... Sure Xuxi sure.”

“Why aren't you more enthusiastic about this!” Lucas whines

“Maybe because you haven't even told me his name?”

“I haven't? It's Mark, Mark Lee, isn't it adorab-”

“I’M SORRY WHO?? “

Lucas winces as Donghyuck screeches right into his ears via his headphones, and repeats the name again,

“Lucas that's my fucking cousin, what the fuck?! Of course, an SMU med student working the night shift at the cafe,” Donghyuck hits his head against the table

“How did I not connect the dots! I literally recommended that cafe to you because he works there and said it's good”

“Holy shit… Dude if I marry Mark you'll literally be my best man oh my God this is amazing I ca-” Lucas stops as he realizes Donghyuck cut the call abruptly. 

His phone soon beeps from a text from Donghyuck talking about how he needs to savour his limited time without Lucas being related to him and he rolls on the floor, laughing as he types away, teasing Donghyuck. 

☾

It's nearing the end of midterms, and Lucas couldn't be more thankful for it. He had somehow managed to bullshit his way through his final practical and desperately wanted to sleep until he had to travel back to his hometown. His mom’s dumplings were less than a week away.  He walks with his eyes half closed towards his dorm, not caring if he bumped into people. Right as he internally pats himself on the back for not tripping so far, he slams into another body. 

“ Oh shit I’m so sorry I wasn't-” his eyes are wide open now, slowly focusing on the smaller boy in front of him,

“Mark? What the fuck happened to you”

Lucas squints to double check whether the pasty, tired boy with bags big enough to fit Lucas’ foot in was really his Mark. 

_ Wait, his Mark? Since when did Mark become his Mark _

Lucas stores the thought in the back of his head, “for the late night quarter life crisis” he decides, and shifts his focus to the tiny boy currently falling asleep while standing

“I'm just a little sleepy, it's all good, Xuxi”

Sleepy was an understatement. It was the first time seeing Mark in such a state. He looked tired, almost on the verge of collapse. How long has it been seen he’d gotten proper rest? Lucas knew the boy wasn't immortal, but he had never seen him so... human before.

_ Xuxi? Mark never called him that before, what could this new development mean, _

__

_ wait no, stop getting distracted. Mark! Sleepy! Help!  _

“Okay, you need to sleep” 

Mark opens his mouth in protest only to have a feeble yawn come out instead

“Which wing do you stay in again, I'll walk you to your dorm”

“The east wing”

“The east wing? Why would you take the farthest block?”

Marl simply mumbles in response and droops his head onto Lucas’ shoulders 

_ Okay Lucas, you got this. _

Taking a deep breath and praying to the athletic students to give him strength, he lifts Mark up slowly, afraid of waking him up. Mark is unsurprisingly light, but the only weights Lucas has been lifting recently were his physics textbooks, so he knows he could never survive the walk to the east wing. Internally smacking himself on the head, he takes the executive decision to instead walk to his dorm. 

_ Talk about moving fast Lucas, you haven't even asked him out yet!  _

They reach Lucas’ dorm in a little over five minutes. Lucas gently places Mark onto his bed, tucking him into the clean sheets. He internally thanks his mom for scolding him earlier in the week to tidy his room. Rubbing his sore muscles, he leans back into his chair near his desk. He stares at Mark, peacefully asleep before he realizes it's probably creepy as hell. Like every other med student, he’s still got an abundance of work left to complete, so with a final crack of his knuckles, he opens his textbooks for the nth time in the week. It doesn’t take long for him to get lost into the world of organic chemistry, and is drooling on his benzene rings when he hears his name being called.

“Lucas”

“Oh hey Mark, you good there? I got some Advil if your head hurts”

“Um oh haha hey uh Lucas I um yeah”

  
  


“I'm sorry I took you to my dorm by the way, but I would die before I walked all the way to the eastern wing. You looked like you were gonna collapse any moment and I know your classes are over, so I kinda took the liberty of letting you crash here?” Lucas explains smiling sheepishly as he sets his pink highlighter down and closes his textbooks.

Mark sighs in response and Lucas isn't sure if it’s of relief or wistfulness.

Lucas fondly watches as Mark shifts in Lucas’ warm comforter, a small thank you escaping his lips. Mark pats the space beside him and it was all the invitation Lucas needed to join him. The taller thankfully doesn't question any of Mark's ministrations, and settles down next to him, close enough for him to feel the heat emanating from his body. 

“Wanna watch ratatouille” 

Lucas asks, already grabbing his laptop and opening Netflix 

They’re halfway through the movie when Lucas pauses it, Mark lazily diverting his eyes from the scene he wasn’t paying much attention to.

“You know, I'm curious. They work in a fancy restaurant so doesn't that mean their kisses taste expensive"

"What?" 

"you know!" Lucas eggs on despite Mark's visible judgement, "like you work in a coffee shop! You drink a lot of coffee! Won’t your kisses taste like coffee too?" 

The words tumble out before Lucas can stop his mouth from running, and only realizes the impact of his words when he sees the bright red hue Mark’s face has taken. 

" Wait I didn-"

"Do you wanna check"

Static plays in Lucas’ brain, slowly processing Marks statement

"How though"

“Well, ” Mark shifts in the bed, and leans close enough for Lucas to count his eyelashes. Lucas simply stares into his doe like eyes, before switching back and forth from his lips to his eyes. He’s sure that if Mark doesn't move forward, he's going to pass out from holding his breath for so long. 

"May I," 

“Yeah.”

They slot their lips together and Lucas lets out a content sigh. Mark pulls back in worry

“Wait did you not like that, shit I’m so sorry”

“Hey hey no, I loved it, it's um”

Lucas is pretty sure he's turned so red one would mistake him for a tomato in the vegetable aisle, 

“I've sort of had the biggest crush on you ever since we met?” Lucas squeaks out, bringing his hands up to his face, embarrassed.

If there was one thing about Lucas, it was how confidence oozed out of him, so being bashful about a crush was a very un-Lucas thing to do. The last thing he expects is Mark to slowly remove his hands from his face, a grin adorning it. 

“I've liked you since then too”

Lucas simply stares at him, before realizing Mark is probably waiting for a response

“Oh,” his brain supplies helpfully

"So, did it? " Mark looks at his hands, suddenly deciding his cuticles are the most interesting thing in the world. 

Something about seeing Mark so pure in front of him causes Lucas to reboot. 

"I'm not sure, can I try again?" he answers with a greasy smile, and is greeted with a pillow to the face, courtesy of Mark.

☾

“Are you sure your parents are fine with this?” Lucas asks, fiddling with the frayed edge of the blanket. 

“I told you Xuxi, it’s perfectly fine I’m spending winter break with you. After you told me about your mom’s dumplings how could I not visit, plus it gives me reason to annoy Donghyuck even more” Mark holds Lucas' hands, mindlessly rubbing circles with his thumb.

“ You'll need to wait for my mom to get back from work for the dumplings, but I know a perfect way to get on his nerves” Lucas laughs, leaning forward 

They’d just gotten into a rhythm that Lucas found endlessly entrancing when the door slammed open and a terribly familiar voice groans.

Lucas jerks away from his boyfriend, eyes wide as he sees his best friend standing with an annoyed face in the doorway, loosely gripping a bag of takeout.

“I bring you both black bean noodles for _this_ in return?” Donghyuck sets the bag onto the table, and turns to the couple accusatorily, hands on hips and scowl adorning his face.

“Fancy seeing you here”

“Shut up nerd, you called me over. Ugh, are you kidding me, I come back home after months to see my nerdy cousin and equally nerdy best friend have their tongue down each other's throats?” Donghyuck groans, flopping onto the sofa where Lucas and Mark sit. 

“Come on, Duckie” Lucas wiggles his eyebrows suggestively, “aren't you excited that I'm gonna be related to you in the near future?”

Donghyuck gags in response.

“Hey Siri? How do I emancipate my cousin?”

**Author's Note:**

> I am always pushing the nct/wayv stem students agenda
> 
> The last time I wrote a fic, I was an angsty teen whose 1 month writing hiatus somehow turned into 2 years (oops?). On the plus side, I’m still an angsty teen so not much has changed. Here’s to more fics, maybe?  
> [Twitter!](https://twitter.com/riceendpudding)


End file.
